+ On the same Lord's Day Angels appeared to the women. +

+ On the same day Peter and John came to the Sepulchre. +

+ On the same day He appeared to Magdalen. +

+ On the same day He appeared to the women. +

+ On the same day He appeared to two disciples on the way to Emmaus. +

+ On the same day He appeared to the disciples in the absence of Thomas. +

+ He appeared to the disciples and Thomas. +

+ Our Lord appears to seven disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. +

+ Jesus breakfasts with seven disciples. +

+ Our Lord appears on Mount Thabor. +

Mystic Monk Coffee - from the Traditional Carmelite Monks of Wyoming

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Communists continue to persecute the Church in Vietnam

We were sent the following report from a religious Brother asking for prayers for the Catholic Church and the Redemptorists in Vietnam where persecutions continue to rage:

The archdiocese of Hue, in central Vietnam, has been subjected to a campaign of negative propaganda in the state-controlled media, following public protests against the government's confiscation of a Catholic school there.

Almost simultaneously, an ultimatum has been sent by public officials to leaders of the Vinh diocese, ordering the removal of a large statue of Our Lady at a Catholic cemetery.

Meanwhile in the northern region, parishioners of Thai Ha in the Archdiocese of Hanoi were told that another plot of land claimed by Catholics as Church property would be put under State's administration.

Verbal attacks against the Church erupted in Hue after the publication of a statement by Archbishop Stephen Nguyen Nhu The and his auxiliary, Bishop Francis Xavier Le Van Hong in which the prelates strongly objected to the confiscation of a Catholic school in the Loan Ly parish and the brutal violence of police against parishioners who had protested.

The school, adjacent to the parish church of Loan Ly, was built by parishioners in 1956. From the beginning, it had been used as a Catholic school until local government officials seized it following the Communist takeover of South Vietnam in 1975. Even since then Sunday catechism classes have still been allowed--under a large picture of Uncle Ho, the Communist leader, rather than a crucifix. Since 1999, however, local officials have sought to convert the school into a hotel-- a proposal that has encountered heavy public opposition.

On September 13, authorities and police barricaded the school building. Hundreds of parishioners immediately protested. Protesters started pulling down the fence, prompting thousands of police to rush to the scene, where they attacked parishioners with batons and stun guns.

In their statement issued on September 23, the two bishops of Hue expressed their "shock and frustration with the way the government had unilaterally solved the Church property issue by the employment of violence"� and called for "peaceful dialogue."

In response, Hue Television ran a series of interviews in which government agents posing as Catholics verbally attacked the prelates. Newspapers in Vietnam have fiercely attacked Father Joseph Ngo Thanh Son, the pastor of Loan Ly parish, accusing him of plotting and directing the protest by his parishioners--although the priest had been in the hospital and was not at his parish at the time the incident took place.

In the Diocese of Vinh, Father John Nguyen Van Huu, the pastor of Bau Sen parish, reported on September 24 that local authorities had sent him an ultimatum to remove a large statue of Our Lady of Lavang which his parishioners built on the top of a mountain in the parish cemetery. The People's Committee of Bo Trach issued a decree, stating that the statue must be demolished as it was built "outside the religious premises."� The deadline for parishioners to remove the statue was set to be on Saturday, September 26. A day earlier, however, bulldozers were sent to the site to threaten parishioners. As of Sunday, September 27, thousands of Catholics were still protesting at the site.

In a different part of the country, Father Matthew Vu Khoi Phung and representatives of Redemptoristsand parishioners of Thai Ha parish, in Hanoi, were summoned by the People's Committee of Dong Da to be told that their lot of land at Ba Giang Lake would be confiscated and placed under State control. After the conversion of one lot of parish land into a public park last October, in April local authorities bulldozed another lot of land, preparing to sell it to private investors.

3 comments:

I think that it is worth considering that these persecuted Catholics are probably not "Traditionalists". (I'm not aware that the SSPX or any other Traditionalist group has a presence in Vietnam, please correct me if I'm wrong.) The same goes for the vast majority of Catholics suffering persecution in third world countries, where the "Traditionalist" resistance to Vatican II has not reached. Those of us who are drawn to certain liturgical and theological traditions abandoned since Vatican II should also feel drawn to these BROTHERS and SISTERS in Christ who are suffering for His Name.

This appalling story from Vietnam is a reminder to us that there are NOT two Churches. There is not a "Conciliar" Church and a "true remnant". There is ONE Church and she is suffering in Vietnam, whether the TLM is offered there or not.

Antisetimism

"Mark well that in the Catholic Mass, Abraham is our Patriarch and forefather. Antisemitism is incompatible with the lofty thought which that fact expresses. It is a movement with which we Christians can have nothing to do. No, no, I say to you it is impossible for a Christian to take part in Antisemitism. It is inadmissible. Through Christ and in Christ we are the spiritual progeny of Abraham. Spiritually, we [Christians] are all Semites."

Pope Pius XI

6 September 1938

Arms of the Royal House of Stuart

Arms of the Cardinal King Henry

King Henry IX of England, France and Ireland; King Henry I of Scotland; Defender of the Faith. 30 January 1788 - 26 September, 1803.